Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 - Trade of imported ivory and articles made there from - Imposition of ban thereon - Not unreasonable restriction- Art. 14.
No citizen has a fundamental right to trade in ivory or ivory articles, whether indigenous or imported A law designed to abate extinction of an animal specie is prima facie one enacted for the protection of public interest as it was enacted to preserve and protect the elephant from extinction. It is not contravention of Art.14 of the Constitution [ M/s. Ivory Traders & Mfg Association vs Union of India. AIR 1997 Del 267 (FB) = 1997 AIHC 3988 = 1997(67)DLT 145 = 1997(42) DRJ 131 = 1997(41)DRJ 604. M.Jagannadha Rao {CJ}, Anil Dev Singh and Manmohan Sarin {JJ}]